International Anti-Financial Crime Summit 2025

Adv Xolisile Khanyile Chair of the Global Coalition Against Financial Crime and a career prosecutor across several leadership roles over 23 year career. Xolisile served in the Asset Forfeiture Unit for a period of more than 5 years and was appointed by the President of South Africa as a Director of Public Prosecutions for a period of 8 years.

From January 2018 to August 2023, she held the position of Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre. During her tenure she also served as the Vice Chair of the Egmont Group and then was promoted to the position of Chair. Xolisile led the South African delegation at the FATF meetings and at the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group meetings during her tenure in the FIC.

Xolisile has conducted numerous training sessions, both nationally and internationally, to prosecutors, law enforcement, civil society, regulators, and the financial sector, amongst many others. Amongst the numerous training opportunities she has led, Xolisile has also provided training on financial crimes, sexual offences, asset forfeiture, corruption, human trafficking, transnational organized crime, combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, FATF standards, and environmental matters to several African countries as well as globally. Xolisile has been a guest speaker and a speaker at several international conferences such as the Interpol 90 General Assembly, Wolfsberg Annual Conference, United for Wildlife Global Summit hosted by Lord Hague.

Xolisile led the establishment of the Fusion Centre in South Africa and the first Public Private Partnership in Africa, the SAMLIT. Xolisile was awarded the Financial Crime Fighter of the year for 2022 by the Global Coalition To Fight Financial Crime. On the 30th of August 2023 she was appointed as the Chair of the African Chapter of the Coalition. On the 5th of December 2023 the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa awarded her the INKANYEZI award in recognition of her commitment to the fight against financial crimes. Early February 2024 Xolisile was appointed as the Chair of the United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce of the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Xolisile holds a B Juris, LLB, LLM and MDP from the Business School of the University of Free State. She attended the Duke University African Women Charted Accountants course in 2015 and graduated in 2016.

Currently Xolisile is the Director of Langelihle Consultants that does training on AML\CFT, and any other financial crime matters as well as ethics. In this capacity Xolisile has spoken at several regional and international forums such as the Women in Financial Crime Conference hosted by AML Intelligence, the London Stock Exchange FICA Conference, the Qatar Compliance Conference, the Namibian Standard Bank Anti-Financial Conference amongst others.

Xolisile is currently also registered as a Senior Expert with the European Union AML\CFT Global Facility where she facilitates and gives training on Immediate Outcome 6 to Financial Intelligence Units and Law Enforcement Agencies. On 31 October 2024 the South African Minister of Finance appointed Xolisile to be a member of the Financial Services Tribunal and the Financial Intelligence Centre Appeal Board.

Derville Rowland is a member of the Executive Board of the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)

She was appointed to the position based at AMLA’s headquarters in Frankfurt in May 2025. Prior to her appointment Ms Rowland was Deputy Governor Consumer and Investor Protection at the Central Bank of Ireland.

Ms Rowland had a career spanning 21 at the Central Bank of Ireland and held a number of senior roles in the organisation.  This included as the Director of Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering, the Director-General of Financial Conduct and most recently as the Deputy Governor (Consumer and Investor Protection).

Prior to joining the Central Bank, she practiced as a barrister in the UK, where she completed a Bachelor of Law Degree and barrister's training (Inns of Court School of Law) in London. Subsequently she obtained a Barrister-at-Law degree from Kings Inns in Dublin and a Diploma in Applied Finance Law.

On 9 June 2022, the Saeima (Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia appointed Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale as Member of the Council of Latvijas Banka (effective as of 1 January 2023).

Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale holds Master’s Degree in Finance from BA School of Business and Finance.

Her professional experience is closely related to the financial sector and to the supervision of financial market participants. Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale has been working in financial and capital market supervision since 18 August 2017. In 2018, she was appointed as Head of Monetary Financial Institutions Operations Analysis Division of the Financial and Capital Market Commission's Supervision Department. Previously she was Deputy Head of Monetary Financial Institutions Operations Analysis Division, dealing with the supervision of significant institutions. Prior to her work at the Financial and Capital Market Commission, from 2006 to 2017, Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale had been employed by "Swedbank" AS in various positions.

From 2019 to 2022, Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale was Member of the Board of the Financial and Capital Market Commission.

On 26 July 2023, Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale, a member of the Council of Latvijas Banka, was elected by the Council of the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities as a member of the Management Board of the European Banking Authority (EBA) for two and a half years.

Aamir is the Regional Vice President, AML Compliance for EU / CIS / Africa for Western Union. He has held multiple positions in the anti-financial crime space in the public and private sectors including as the Head of Financial Crimes for EMEA / UK MLRO for Stripe, the Regional Head for the US Law Compliance Program for ASEAN and South Asia for Standard Chartered Bank, and the Head of Financial Crimes for the Middle East and North Africa (excluding the UAE) for Standard Chartered Bank. Aamir has also led financial management teams for Expedia and Boeing; and spent nine years working in the U.S. government focusing on geopolitical, intelligence and global financial crime issues.

Aamir has an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in International Policy and Practice from George Washington University.

Rachael is the new Director of the National Economic Crime Centre in the UK’s National Crime Agency.  She is also responsible for the UKFIU.  Her remit is to translate the threat understanding for illicit finance and fraud, into strategic and operational priorities for the UK’s response to economic crime.  She does this in partnership with law enforcement, the private sectors, regulators, legislators and policy makers.  She is passionate about harnessing the intelligence from all parts of the system, and finding shared objectives to amplify collective impact on economic crime.  She has worked in economic crime in the NCA for ten years, having previously worked across UK Government in multiple roles.

Jarod Koopman was named the Executive Director of Field Operations for the Northern Area in April 2025 after spending a decade as the Executive over Cyber and Forensics for IRS-Criminal Investigation.

As the DFO, Jarod now oversees 7 Field Offices along the Northern border from Chicago East, handling all operational oversight. Prior to this role, Jarod established the Cyber Crimes section within CI where his primary function was the oversight and management of all cyber-related activities at a global level. This consisted of close coordination with public/private sector, industry, and other law enforcement partners both foreign and domestic.

Jarod began his career in 2002 as a Special Agent in New York before being selected to the Accelerated Senior Leadership Program (ASLP) in 2011. As such, Jarod took multiple roles involving increasing levels of leadership – Supervisor (New York), Senior Analyst (Washington DC), ASAC (Chicago), Special Agent in Charge (Detroit) and the Director roles (Washington DC).

During his tenure as the Executive Director over Cyber Crimes, IRS-Criminal Investigation expanded their capabilities and solidified its role as the prominent force in cryptocurrency tracing and dark web activities.

*Notable investigations include Liberty Reserve, Silk Road I and II, Alphabay, Hydra, Binance, Btc-e, Mt Gox, Welcome2Video, OneCoin, Bitclub Network, Bitconnect, Helix, Bitcoin Fog, xDedic, North Korean Hack, Bitqyck, Bitfinex, Zhong, Samourai Wallet and ETH Exploit.

Alexander is a senior police officer from the Bavarian State Police in Germany, currently serving as Head of Unit Financial Crime at Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC), a position he assumed in September 2023. In this role, he leads a multidisciplinary team focused on tackling money laundering, corruption and sanctions enforcement as well as engaged in asset-tracing and recovery. His responsibilities also encompass strategic stakeholder engagement, fostering cooperation with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), Asset Recovery Offices and customs agencies across Europe as well with the financial service industry as part of Europol’s Financial Intelligence Public Private Partnership (EFIPPP). Throughout his career, Alexander has held various strategic, operational, and investigative roles within the German police and internally. Prior to his current appointment, he was based at INTERPOL’s General Secretariat in Lyon, where he worked for several years in the Financial Crime Unit with a similar portfolio to his current position at Europol.

Jaap is current the Head of the Detecting Financial Crime (DFC)  unit, which is ABN AMRO Bank’s 1LOD centre of excellence for financial crime risk management.

The DFC unit maintains and executes the standards, systems and operations for all financial crime risk management processes. Jaap joined ABN AMRO Bank as their Global Head, AML & Sanctions in April 2021.

Prior to that he was with Standard Chartered Bank for a over seven years where he worked in the Financial Crime Surveillance (screening & monitoring) unit based out of London, and prior to that as Head of Retail Financial Crime Compliance based in Singapore.

Prior to Standard Chartered, Jaap worked at ING Bank in various financial crime compliance capacities. All in all, Jaap has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, of which over 15 years in the AML / CTF domain.

Since joining Nasdaq Verafin in 2017, Niki has held senior leadership roles in teams spanning the entire customer journey — bringing new products to market and expanding the business’ market reach. In her current role as Head of International Fraud and AML Product Strategy, Niki is responsible for delivering Nasdaq Verafin’s industry-leading solutions to a global audience. Niki enjoys combining a curiosity about customer and market challenges with a commitment to continuous product improvement. Niki applies her expertise to our Financial Crime Management solutions, helping financial institutions see the full picture of financial crime with Nasdaq Verafin's global crime fighting network. 

Linda started her career as a commercial litigator in an international law firm in Edinburgh.  Since joining the civil service, she has had a range of interesting and challenging roles, including Private Secretary to the First Minister of Scotland; Head of Civil Asset Forfeiture for Scotland; Deputy Director of Defence, Security and Cyber Resilience; and Senior Responsible Officer for EU Exit in the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

Linda joined the Fraud Investigation Service in HMRC in April 2021 and originally led Offshore, Corporate and Wealthy, managing white collar civil and criminal investigations into wealthy individuals and large corporates.

Since September 2022, Linda has been Head of Organised Crime, leading complex international investigations to disrupt and dismantle Organised Crime Groups. Linda leads a team of 1500 civil and criminal investigators across 15 sites and 3 legal jurisdictions in the UK. She specialises in all elements of economic crime, including money laundering, bribery and corruption and fraud and has concluded a number of Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Linda is committed to  collaborating with domestic and international partners to maximise impact against financial crime.

Ms. Kohr's background includes more than nineteen years of experience in the anti-financial crime sector with significant experience in Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML), fraud and sanctions compliance, managing complex regulatory issues and remediation projects, and facilitating public and private partnerships (PPPs) to develop effective strategies to combat illicit financial activities. In 2023, Ms. Kohr transitioned her career in banking to the public sector. She joined IRS-Criminal Investigations to assist, among other things, in building an agency-wide approach to PPPs and feedback loops to the private sector.

To date, she has been building and leading the agency’s wide initiative to operationalize PPPs and information sharing called CI-FIRST (Feedback in Response to Strategic Threats) program. These efforts are modernizing how IRS-CI partners with the private sector by creating structured feedback loops, improving investigative efficiency, and reducing burdens on financial institutions. She also serves as the lead for domestic and international partnerships and agency priorities such as the PROTECT Exchange series. Prior to CI, Ms. Kohr served as President of Kohr Global Advisory Services, LLC., where she advised and trained the public and private sectors on various matters related to banking compliance, anti-money laundering, and other complex financial crimes. Previously, Ms. Kohr was the Senior Director of AML for a global anti-financial crime organization. As the Senior Director, Ms. Kohr was focused on building the global Anti-Financial Crime public-private partnership engagement initiative, assisting in executing the global Law Enforcement strategy from a thought-leadership perspective, and serving as both a subject matter and technical expert on AML/CTF, regulatory policy, and AML regime priorities.

Ms. Kohr also served as the Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer (CRO), and BSA Officer at Old Dominion National Bank (ODNB) in Tysons Corner, VA. As the SVP and CRO, Ms. Kohr was responsible for Old Dominion's enterprise risk management program, including leading the bank's AML/BSA and OFAC programs. Ms. Kohr was the 2016 ACAMS AML Professional of the Year, authored the 2016 and 2020 ACAMS Article of the Year, and was the 2019 recipient of the U.S. Capital Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships award. In 2023, she was recognized as the private sector recipient of the AML Partnership Forum Excellence in Public/Private Partnership award.

Ms. Kohr is a frequent speaker at numerous domestic and international conferences for the public and private sectors on AML/BSA/OFAC and CTF-related topics.

Tommas Kaplan started his professional career as a detective inspector with the criminal investigation department, where he gained extensive practical experience in combating terrorism and terrorist financing in the field of national security.

After his time with the police, he moved to von Poll Real Estate, one of Europe's largest real estate agencies, where he built up a modern and effective compliance structure from scratch, focusing on money laundering prevention, internal investigations, corruption and fraud prevention as well as data protection. In his position as money laundering reporting officer, he established a robust AML compliance structure in the real estate sector through numerous presentations and contributions.

He has also been involved as an expert in the development of innovative digital solutions for AML and CFT.

During his employment, he has been actively involved in the PPP Anti-Financial Crime Alliance (AFCA), where he founded and led the ‘Money Laundering in the Real Estate Sector’ working group from 2020 to May 2025. Under his leadership, three internationally recognised typology papers were published, which received with considerable resonance among experts (including FATF, foreign FIUs, EFIPPP, law enforcement and supervisory authorities, UNODC, etc.).

He also heads the ‘Real Estate’ focus group in the ‘Professional Enabler’ workstream of the Europol Financial Intelligence Public-Private Partnership (EFIPPP). Furthermore, he is a recognised expert for the Council of Europe and regularly contributes to regulatory initiatives for the international prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing (for example in Austria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and many other countries).

Alongside this, he provides training to law enforcement and supervisory authorities in the financial and non-financial sectors, teaching them how to implement an effective risk-based approach to supervision. He also covers special money laundering typologies, including professional money laundering as a service, hawala, chinese and criminal underground banking, clan crime and evironmental crime.

Stephen is Co Founder and Chair at AML Intelligence based between our Brussels and Dublin offices. Stephen is former Group Editor-in-Chief at INM, Ireland’s largest media group, where he ran the newspaper and online operations, driving digital audiences to 15 million per month.

A member of the Supervisory Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), he has also served on the board of the World Editors Forum (WEF) and on the European Commission's High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Disinformation.

Stephen is Principal at Kobn, a specialist European leadership advisory, with an emphasis on strategic risk and cybersecurity.

Ilze Znotiņa is the former Director of FIU Latvia. Prior to joining FIU Latvia she has had a career as a sworn attorney-at-law specializing in dispute resolution. Her main areas of expertise included regulatory issues, insolvency, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering, fraud and white-collar crime.

A former Partner of law firm Deloitte Legal, Ms. Znotina has represented a wide range of local and international clients in courts as well as performed an anti-fraud reviews at many international and local companies where she led investigation of corruption, false accounting, fraud, theft, asset recovery, tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice cases.

Her recent activities before the appointment related to leading the preparation of Latvian National AML/CFT Risk assessment and several sectoral assessments.

Ms. Znotina has submitted her doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Law, University of Latvia. She holds a Master degree in International and European Law from Riga Graduate School of Law and a Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Latvia. She is an author of a number of publications related to law, fraud and corruption as well as a frequent speaker on these topics.

Vivienne Artz OBE FCSI (Hon) CMgr CCMI AIGP

Vivienne is the CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the UK’s business-led voluntary framework, supported by Government to improve the representation of women on the Boards and Leadership teams of the FTSE 350 and 50 of the UK’s largest private companies.

Vivienne is also a NED and holds a number of expert advisory roles supporting businesses in their data, privacy and digital strategies, with a focus on AI and new technologies, anti-financial crime and equality & diversity. Vivienne has over twenty five years experience in global financial and professional services sectors, including at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters and Citibank. Vivienne is the AI and Data Lead at the International Business & Diplomatic Exchange, was co-chair of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime Data Privacy expert working group, chapter co-lead of the City of London “Vision for Economic Growth” report, and has advised UK government on international data transfer strategies.

Vivienne is an exceptional advocate for gender balance in business, is a Patron of Women in Finance Rwanda, and is the former CEO of Women in Banking and Finance. She was awarded an OBE for services to Financial Services and Gender Diversity in 2021.

Mike leads global outreach to leading technology, telecom and financial institutions. Kodex helps enterprises capture and act on criminal investigation data, enabling financial crime and trust & safety teams to meet law enforcement obligations while safeguarding user privacy.

Before joining Kodex, Mike scaled teams at Zillow, Snapdocs (YC/Sequoia), and Ironclad (YC/Accel/Sequoia), and later advised founders in go-to-market strategy at Fractal, a venture studio. He is passionate about building bridges between innovative companies and the institutions that depend on them, ensuring security, privacy, and growth can advance together.

Dr. Shlomit Wagman is a leading expert in AI in the fight against financial crime and fraud. Shlomit Director-General of the Israel Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA), a financial regulator and law enforcement agency, from 2016 to 2022, and Acting Director-General of the Israel Privacy Protection Authority from 2019 to 2021.

She is an expert in the fields of financial regulation, digital assets and crypto-currencies, money laundering and terrorism financing, privacy and data protection, financial intelligence and data analytics.

She holds both JSD and LLM degrees from Yale Law School (2007, 2005) and a joint LLB and BA degree (magna cum laude) in law and business management from the Hebrew University (2001). She clerked for the Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Prof. Aharon Barak.

Dr. Wagman worked in the private sector with leading law firms, including Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz in NYC and Gross-Hodak in Israel. She is the co-editor of the book "Cybercrime" (NYU Press, 2007), with Prof. Jack Balkin et al. She served as an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University and Raichman University (2007–2012) and was a fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School (2003–2007).

Dr. Wagman was the Head of the Israeli delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing watchdog from 2016 to 2022, and also served as a Co-Chair of the FATF operational working group, a member of the Steering Group, and was a nominee for Presidency.

As the head of Israel’s AML authority, she led major national reforms, including regulating cryptocurrencies, and the historic accession of Israel to the FATF as a member country after an evaluation process in which Israel was placed among the top three most effective countries in the world. Under her leadership, IMPA exposed hundreds of money laundering and terrorism financing cases, leading to the crackdown on major criminal organizations and the seizure of billions of illicit funds. IMPA further received various international awards, including the Best Financial Investigation Worldwide by the Egmont (2016, 2021) and recognition by the FATF as one of the three most effective FIUs worldwide.

As the head of Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority, she produced an unprecedented number of regulatory opinions, led innovative enforcement actions, and handled mega national data-leaks and cybersecurity attacks. The Supreme Court adopted her positions in two fundamental national cases: in limiting the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Beit) from monitoring citizens during COVID 19, and in striking down the transfer of citizens’ health data to local municipalities.

In addition to her current affiliation with the BKC, she serves as a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) at Kennedy School of Government and as an Affiliated Fellow at the ISP at Yale Law School.

Tarana Baghirova leads the OSCE’s portfolio on financial investigations into human trafficking as well as policy work on trafficking nexus with drugs and terrorism. Until 2023, she also led OSCE Special Representatives political mandate of country visits and evaluated over 20 States’ anti-trafficking efforts. Tarana possesses over 15 years of international experience in coordinated policy planning and program management in a range of areas including security affairs, transnational threats and criminal justice reform.

Prior to joining the Office the Special Representative in 2015, she led Anti-Trafficking programme in the OSCE Office in Baku and also consulted other international organizations, such International Organization for Migration and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development in assessing the state’s anti-trafficking responses.

Oonagh is an award winning Compliance Officer and recognised as one of the leading voices and trainers globally in compliance risk management, with over 20+ years’ experience. She has built and led various compliance risk framework developments and teams across the industry for a diverse range of financial entities, including traditional banks, Fintech, and Crypto firms, and is known for her proven expertise in management of complex compliance remediation challenges. She is an advocate for ethical compliance leadership and framework development, with increased automation, including AI and Machine Learning integration.

Nish Ranatunga is the Head of FC Risk Models and Monitoring Oversight at HSBC, sitting in the Group Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team in London within Financial Crime (FC).  Nish oversees the development and effectiveness of the Bank's customer monitoring controls in FC, as well as manages teams who deliver standardised risk assessments covering customers, products, and countries.  Nish has been with HSBC for over 7 years and has over 20 years’ experience in financial crime technology across multiple jurisdictions, specialising in ongoing monitoring controls.

Sarah Beth Felix has over 20 years of experience in anti-financial crimes with operational, audit and consulting roles, working with banks, payment firms, and global Fintechs. Operationalizing AML/sanctions threats is one of her most well-known attributes, providing actionable solutions. Beyond traditional banking, she has specialized years of work in Fintechs, Lendtechs, cannabis banking, crypto, correspondent banking, and trade finance.

While managing a thriving AML/sanctions advisory firm for over 12 years, Palmera Consulting, she is also co-founder and CAMLO for a de novo digital correspondent bank – Acceleron Bank, in formation – based in Vermont, U.S. She has a 360-degree view of banking and how money flows throughout the world. Sarah Beth and her team are building a highly compliant digital bank focused on providing cost-effective solutions to US banks.

With global speaking engagements and her years spent on the operational AFC front, she focuses on impactful takeaways that move listeners to ‘take action’ in improving their AML/sanctions programs. Sarah Beth is also a guest lecturer at the National War College in Washington, D.C. and is frequently asked to train various US federal law enforcement agencies on private sector data availability that impacts subpoenas and unregulated payment ecosystems.

With over 20 years of experience, Liliya has worked across the financial crime space in different roles and capacity and across different business segments. She has managed teams, due diligence projects in challenging environments, and led major investigations and litigation support cases. In the late 1990s she joined Bulgaria’s Financial Intelligence Unit where she headed the International Contacts and Legal Coordination department.

Her experience also includes Transparency International in Berlin, several London-based investigative consultancy firms and the Royal Bank of Canada in London. In 2016 she joined Commerzbank London where she managed the AML Advisory and EDD Team until her appointment as head of Transactions Monitoring and Investigations/UK FIU and deputy MLRO.

In 2020 she joined CACIB as Head of UK Financial Security; she is also the MLRO. She holds a doctorate in AML policies from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and gives lectures at the University of Manchester. A speaker at industry events, Liliya has delivered presentations on behalf of Stop the Traffik, a London-based non-profit organisation that fights human trafficking and slavery.

Jackie leads Brussels-based Ibec Global, Europe's leading English-speaking, globally networked business organisation, and the international business division of Ibec - Ireland’s largest and most influential business advocacy and representative organisation.

Ibec Global’s engagement spans across Irish and global stakeholders to shape the conditions for international businesses to thrive, and to advance practical and scalable solutions that economies and societies need to prosper. Her previous roles include Chief Operating Officer at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Ottawa, Canada office of a leading international public affairs and strategic communications consulting firm.

Jackie has over two decades of experience as an international business leader, building high-performing teams and transforming organisations for the future. She is recognised as an expert in managing risk for organizations with international exposure, and has worked with executives, their boards, and public-sector officials in every sector of the global economy to protect and enhance reputation and deliver results for business and communities.

James is the Managing Director at AMLi. James is also CEO at StubbsGazette, one of the oldest continuous credit bureaus in the world. He is one of the founders of the International Fraud Prevention Conference (IFPC).

James acquired the Stubbs brand from Dun & Bradstreet in 2008 and built the company’s reach. He was founder and chairman of the Irish Fraud Bureau.

Darren brings over 30 years of experience in Financial Services, with a focus on regulatory remediation, financial crime, and operational transformation.

He has led large-scale delivery teams across insurance and banking, including Financial Crime and Sanctions programmes for some of the UK’s largest institutions. Darren combines strategic oversight with deep hands-on expertise to help Brighter shape and deliver innovative, tech-enabled compliance solutions.

In 2019, Eduardo took on the role of coordinator for the I-Checkit program. He led the expansion of the I-Checkit program into the financial sector, a move that was approved by INTERPOL Member Countries during the annual General Assembly. Under his leadership, he forged collaborative partnerships with CaixaBank and PONANT Cruises.

Eduardo has been working in the INTERPOL General Secretariat since 2003, holding various positions focused on database management and facilitating the exchange of police information among INTERPOL Member Countries. Notably, he successfully spearheaded the implementation of an automated system that enables all Member Countries to seamlessly insert and manage information on individuals subject to request for international police cooperation, including INTERPOL Notices. This innovative system substantially reduced the timeframe required for law enforcement authorities worldwide to access and act on critical information.

Neil joined NTT DATA in 2021 after having spent 30 years working for regional and global banks in Ireland, UK and Europe in digital roles covering product, technology, payments and transformation activities. Neil is now working with banks leveraging his experience in helping them address the challenges of the digital landscape with financial crime becoming an ever more prominent area of focus – he views this landscape as being akin to a ‘Tom and Jerry’ scenario where the wider banking industry has to be smarter, faster and more nimble in negating the efforts of the ‘Toms’ as they try to disrupt and plunder the financial eco-system.  Neil has also studied in this area and holds a Post Grad qualification in Financial Crime Prevention.

Saurav Banerjee leads the Financial Crime Prevention Risk Intelligence function, where he spearheads strategic initiatives to detect, disrupt, and deter financial crime across complex global operations. Saurav brings deep expertise in regulatory compliance, data-driven threat analysis, and cross-border collaboration.

He is a passionate advocate for innovation in financial crime prevention, championing the use of advanced analytics and behavioural insights to stay ahead of emerging risks. Saurav regularly engages with industry forums, regulatory bodies, and academic institutions to shape best practices and foster dialogue on evolving threats in the financial ecosystem.

At this panel, Saurav will share insights on the intersection of intelligence-led risk frameworks and operational resilience, drawing on his experience leading multidisciplinary teams and navigating high-stakes environments.

Anu currently serves as Head of FCC Regulatory Change and Global Programmes for BNY’s EMEA region and co-chairs the external AFME Financial Crime and Compliance Working Group.

She brings over 23 years of cross-jurisdictional experience in the UK, US and Asia, specialising in global and regional AML regulatory developments, policies and standards.

Prior to joining BNY, Anu worked with HSBC, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, RBS, Cisco Financial Services and a leading FinTech firm.

She is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

Rory is currently the Directorate Coordinator for INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), where he performs a supporting role to the current Director.

Previously he was seconded from the Irish Police (An Garda Sìochàna) to INTERPOL from 2018 to 2023, where he held a number of senior management positions including, Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre and Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Organized and Emerging Crime Directorate, where he led INTERPOL’s Environmental Security and Global Health Crime Programme’s. He has also held the lead role for INTERPOL’s Global Financial Crime Task Force (IGFCTF).

With over 35 years’ experience in Law Enforcement, he served the majority of his career in the Garda Counter Terrorism Unit and most recently as a Detective Inspector in charge of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and a Post Graduate Degree in Legal Studies. He also holds academic qualifications in Cyber Crime, Financial Crime Investigations, Environmental Law and Corporate Risk and Governance, from University College Dublin, Ireland.

Camilla Cowan is the Head of Public Private Partnerships in the National Economic Crime Centre. Camilla developed and implemented the current NECC partnerships model and most recently led the Data Fusion initiative. Camilla has worked in a variety of operational and strategic roles in her law enforcement career.

Having worked in the financial services industry for more than thirty five years and specialising in financial crime compliance since the inception of the UK Money Laundering Regulations on 1 April 1994, Steve is recognised as one of the UK’s leading industry experts on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing issues and legislation/regulation.

He is the co-founder of the AMLA Group and Head of Regulatory Partnerships, based in Malaga, Spain.

He has previously held roles as the Director of Regulatory and Financial Crime Programmes at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in London and Global Head of Money Laundering Prevention and Counter Terrorist Financing for Prudential plc. During his time at Prudential he successfully completed secondments to NCIS (now the National Crime Agency) and the National Terrorist FIU at New Scotland Yard.

Founder and former Chairman and President of the UK ‘Institute of Money Laundering Prevention Officers’ (IMLPO), Steve a an exceptionally well networked individual within the financial crime prevention environment across financial institutions, professional services firms, regulators and law enforcement. Experienced speaker on financial crime issues and has lectured at conferences throughout the UK, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA.

Justin Cole formerly served on the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) team as the Director of Communication, a position he began in 2014. He led a staff of Public Affairs Officers and Special Agents stationed across the country who supported CI’s communication efforts and legislative outreach. His office was responsible for national media engagement, internal communication, social media engagement, web content management, speech writing, and congressional outreach.

Justin joined CI from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he led communication and outreach efforts for the National Intellectual Property Rights Center, working to educate the public about the dangers of counterfeit goods. Prior to his time at ICE, Justin worked with the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, where he specialized in public education campaigns, crisis communication, and media outreach. He also spent 10 years on active duty in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and public affairs officer.

Justin attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2001. He earned his master’s degree in Communication from the University of Oklahoma in 2013 and his master’s degree in Human Relations in 2014.

Pat who is originally from Drimoleague, West Cork, joined An Garda Síochána in 1986 and has served mainly in the Dublin Region but also worked in the South Eastern and Eastern Garda Regions. Pat has worked in Community Policing, Drugs, Prostitution Investigations, Serious Crime Investigations, Fraud and Financial Investigations, Financial Intelligence and Cybercrime. He has held the position of Detective in all ranks and has been at the forefront of the investigation of serious crime for many years. Pat is a Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) and holds a B.Sc in Management Law from Trinity College Dublin.

In 2015, Pat took up his current position as Head of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau is involved in many high profile investigations and is supported by Gardaí throughout the country trained in Fraud Investigation. Pat and his team have developed a Post Graduate Certificate in Fraud and E-Crime Investigation in association with University College Dublin. Pat was also the lead representative from An Garda Síochána in the 2017 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Review of Ireland. Pat sees education and crime prevention as being the most beneficial ways of reducing fraud into the future.